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As we near the midway point of round two, heavy-hitters Doctor Who and Castle face each other, while classic comedies The Andy Griffith Show and Get Smart battle it out!

These round two polls will be open for about 72 hours, so be sure to spread the word quickly if you want your favorites to make it to the next round! As always, you can find the links to all the current matchups on our main post. Please try to vote in all the polls, not just the one with your favorite show!

May Madness - Drama, Round 2.3

Castle (55%, 24 Votes)

Doctor Who (45%, 20 Votes)

Total Voters: 44

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May Madness - Comedy, Round 2.3

The Andy Griffith Show (62%, 21 Votes)

Get Smart (38%, 13 Votes)

Total Voters: 34

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Feel free to leave a comment about which show(s) you voted for and why! I may quote your comment in a Facebook post or tweet promoting this poll! Also, there may be a bit of a lag if a lot of people are voting, so make sure the first poll finishes loading your results before submitting your vote for the second poll!

Our next polls pair classic Get Smart against newbie-with-familiar-talent The Crazy Ones, while Magnum, PI and Tom Selleck’s mustache battle 50 years of time and space in Doctor Who!

These polls will be open for about 72 hours, so be sure to spread the word quickly if you want your favorites to make it to the next round! As always, you can find the links to all the current matchups on our main post.

May Madness - Comedy, Round 1.6

Get Smart (62%, 18 Votes)

The Crazy Ones (38%, 11 Votes)

Total Voters: 29

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May Madness - Drama, Round 1.6

Doctor Who (63%, 20 Votes)

Magnum, PI (38%, 12 Votes)

Total Voters: 32

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Feel free to leave a comment about which show(s) you voted for and why! I may quote your comment in a Facebook post or tweet promoting this poll! Also, there may be a bit of a lag if a lot of people are voting, so make sure the first poll finishes loading your results before submitting your vote for the second poll!

At last, it is time for the 64 TV shows YOU chose to battle it out for the best TV show of all time! Over the next few weeks, shows will face each other in 72-hour single elimination matchups! Everyone who responded to my question about whether to have comedies and dramas mixed throughout the tournament preferred to have the genres battle it out separately and the top comedy and top drama face each other in the final match, so that’s what we will do!

This post will be your go-to reference for current and upcoming matches, so be sure to bookmark it and check back daily! I will add the links as the posts go up. Or, subscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest posts!

And now we’re starting round three, as the remaining 16 shows face off! The lists will be completed as the round one matchups finish, and links to each new poll will be added after they go live! Each of the round three posts will contain two matchups: one drama battle and one comedy battle. All polls will be open 72 hours.

These will be the matchups for round one. This list was randomly generated, and each of the round one posts will contain two matchups: one comedy battle and one drama battle. I may post several times in a day during this first round so that this bracket won’t go too far into June, but all polls will be open 72 hours. If any of the choices below seem impossible, remember, your decisions will only get more difficult as the tournament progresses! Have fun!

I love TV-related bracket tournaments. What I don’t love is said tournaments leaving out so many great shows (yes, Hulu, I’m looking at you), and not giving TV fans a chance to pick which shows are included.

So in preparation for TV Breakroom’s May Madness bracket tournament, you, this site’s readers, get to choose which 64 shows will battle it out for the best show of all time!

I’m dividing this competition into four sections (though the bracket itself will be randomized), between past and present shows, as well as comedies and dramas. Present shows will include renewed shows and any shows that have aired episodes October 2013 or later (even if they have since been canceled). Comedies will include all 20-30 minute shows, while dramas will include 40 minute plus shows, even if they are very funny. So Psych, which you might consider a past TV comedy, will actually be among the present TV dramas. Each of these 4 sections will have their own nomination poll, in consecutive weeks. Last week’s poll selected great comedies like The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, and 14 others!

This site’s typical guidelines (scripted, live-action, primetime shows) apply. So don’t look for (or nominate) The Simpsons, Whose Line is It Anyway?, daytime soaps, or variety shows. Online shows like those created by Netflix and Amazon are eligible, web series with episodes shorter than 20 minutes (no matter how much we love The Guild) are not. Shows must have aired either a full season or at least 5 episodes to be eligible as well.

I did my best to include all the current TV dramas that meet the guidelines. Feel free to nominate any great ones I missed, and if they meet the guidelines I’ve outlined above, I will add them to the poll.

This poll will be open for one week, and you can vote for up to 20 of your favorite current TV dramas. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into our bracket tournament next week!

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s May Madness nominations! Voting ends around 12AM May 5th, and the top 16 will make it into our bracket.

Which current TV dramas deserve to be in our May Madness bracket? (Choose up to 20!)

This Monday Madness, vote for your favorite hero/villain duos! The hero of any TV show, whether comic-book-based, sitcom, or procedural drama, always faces opposition in the pursuit of his/her goals. Often, that opposition comes from the people around our hero. But sometimes, one opposing person stands out from the crowd. They may be a twisted version of our hero, or just amazing at being evil. But you can be sure that an epic battle (of wits, weapons, or fisticuffs) is about to begin!

The pairs below are some of the more popular hero/villain duos, along with several nominated by readers of this blog. Which are your favorites? Go forth and vote!

Also, this poll is not as limited as previous ones – feel free to include older shows and villains who aren’t around for very long – just be sure to nominate ones that make an impression!

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 5 of your favorite TV hero/villain duos. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will win!

I had a hard time coming up with duos for this list, and I know there are many more epic heroes and villains out there! As always, you can cast write-in ballots by leaving a comment, and if I receive several nominations, I may add them to the poll! Want more of a say in what makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Stay tuned – I have something special in mind for the rest of April and May!

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 12AM April 7th.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 9 years since Doctor Who returned to TV with the airing of “Rose”. The modern show feels like such a part of British culture that I can’t imagine the BBC without it.

It’s also difficult to realize that it’s been less than 18 months since I got into the show. Like with my first watching of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was initially so-so about the show, a bit put off by the weirdness (whether aliens or vampires) and the cheesy special effects. Then the characters started to grip me, a plot twist blew my socks off, and the show became my new favorite!

I haven’t blogged much about Doctor Who since catching up with the modern show, thanks to a busy job and dying computer. And now that I have no job and a new computer, there are no new episodes to blog about. But that hasn’t meant that I’ve not been sharing my love of Doctor Who with the world. Just check out my British TV board on Pinterest, nearly 3,000 pins strong and focusing mostly on the Doctor (be wary of Doctor Who and Sherlock spoilers if you’re not caught up!). I also have a lot of Doctor Who on my Tumblr. I’ve introduced the show to many people and have started to collect quite a bit of DW-related paraphernalia.

Here’s a promo from the first series of the rebooted show – I would have loved the chance to watch this when it first aired!

Just read the following article: The Actual Plot Holes in Doctor Who | Doctor Who TV. While I like that it makes the point that there are fewer plot holes in the modern version than people think, I disagree with the article about many of these being actual plot holes.

1. An out-of-place comment in the Russian translation? I’m guessing the author added this just to make it an even 10. Ludicrous that this is even included.

2. The Angels Take Manhattan end. A lot of people have a problem with this one. I explain it away in my head with the Doctor feeling he can’t mess with Amy and Rory’s timelines anymore. The gravestone indicates they should grow old and die in NYC. If he tries to mess with that, even by visiting (because how can he be sure he/they won’t try to travel together again?), it could have disastrous results.

3. Telepathic circuits. I’m not sure where it is established that only people who have been inside the TARDIS get the automatic translations. But the TARDIS is smart, and is shown in the future as extending force fields and air tunnels outside her doors. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind extending the translation ability temporarily to a few of the Doctor’s allies in a pinch.

4. Meta-Crisis Doctor. Having the same memories as the Doctor does not equal having the Doctor’s exact personality (see every single other regeneration). While Meta-Crisis is similar to Ten, the different physiology means that other things can be different as well. The same battle-born PTSD symptoms that Nine had, for example.

5. People have mentioned in the comments that whistling and snapping can be done with gloves on. Even if it couldn’t, this is far more a continuity error than a plot hole.

6. Zombie-like patients running. I see this as more of a dramatic timing thing than an actual plot hole. Some could be more sick than others, they could have grabbed a shot of adrenaline somewhere – there could be a dozen reasons for this. It’s very unimportant to the storyline, and I’m glad they didn’t waste valuable screen time explaining.

7. The Doctor’s age. This is quite easily explained with the Earth vs. Gallifreyan years theory. It’s also hard to calculate the age of a time-traveler at the best of time, let alone when years have different lengths depending on where you are in space.

8. Blink – angels moving at different speeds. Another dramatic timing issue. Who knows if weeping angels all move at the same speed? Further episodes show that they can decay and move more slowly at times.

9. Father’s Day. This is a straight up date error made by the writers, not a plot hole. Rose being missing for a whole year meant she was 19 in 2006 as well as 2005, which likely led to the error.

10. The reality bomb went off in a parallel universe. This is the one plot hole in the entire article which I feel had some merit (I might also include the Amy/Rory one). The easiest way to explain away this one is that Davros is mistaken. We know the reality bomb can effect other parallel universes, but there is nothing beyond Davros’s boast to indicate it could affect all universes. Maybe it does wipe out a dozen, a hundred, or even a million parallel universes. All we know for sure is that it doesn’t go off in our world, and Pete’s world still exists.

What do you think? Do these explanations make sense? Are there any other plot holes you see in modern Doctor Who that this article failed to mention?

The TARDIS is getting a new occupant! Samuel Anderson is joining Doctor Who on a reoccurring basis for series 8. His character’s name is Danny Pink, and he’s a teacher at Coal Hill School, where we saw Clara teaching at the beginning of the anniversary episode.

I’m pretty excited by this bit of casting news, probably the best I’ve heard since David and Billie were announced to be back for the special. Glad to see there will be a young guy around to help us transition to an older Doctor! Might there be a bit of romance in the air for Clara? I don’t know if this photo indicates Pink’s look or not, but if so, I highly approve!

Okay, this ABC comedy pilot just became a must-watch if it makes it to series! Not only is Karen Gillan (Doctor Who’s Amy Pond) starring, but it’s from the same mind behind the hilarious Suburgatory. Also, with Gillan’s character being named Eliza Dooley, I’m guessing they have some “My Fair Lady” homages up their sleeves?

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for sci-fi shows (and movies and books) about people who look human but really aren’t, and all the twists and turns that can bring to the story. So it was pretty much a given that I’d been at least checking out this show. But even with that anticipation, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the pilot episode of Star-Crossed was.

We open on the day the aliens invade. Only from their point of view, they’re Atrian refugees who crash-landed on Earth after their planet was destroyed. Adorably cute little alien boy Roman runs away from the fighting caused by this misunderstanding, and hides out in a nearby shed, where he discovered by adorably cute little human girl Emery (played by Ben & Kate’s Maggie Elizabeth Jones). She brings him a blanket and cold spaghetti, and he in turn tries to protect her when police dogs sniff out his location the following day, and is shot (and she believes killed) for his efforts.

Fast forward 10 years, and Emery is about to go back to school after 4 years battling an autoimmune disease, though not without stopping for a quick chat with her still-ill hospital buddy, Julia. I like how this background puts Emery out of sync with the “normal” teenagers she meets at high school. I wish we’d gotten a better look at her relationship with her friend Lukas, who at this point is little more than token platonic African-American school tour guide. He was helping with the hospital club table – is that how Emery knows him?

Emery’s first day back is also the first day for seven Atrian teenagers to start attending a human high school as the initial attempt at integration. Of course, Roman and Emery eventually reunite, and there are sparks, but the sci-fi elements are just as intriguing and perhaps even more so. The armed guards and curfews of the Sector (the government internment facility where the Atrians are forced to live) contrast strongly with the exotic bazaar-like vibe inside.

I expected Roman to be more open-minded toward humans than the rest of his species, but instead his father and sister have that role. In Roman’s experience, only one human has been kind to him – Emery – and his reactions to others are filled with hilarious sarcasm, which was easily one of my favorite parts of the episode.

There is still a lot of mystery surrounding the Atrians. I enjoyed the reveal that Roman’s two hearts was what saved him from dying as a child (are we sure they aren’t refugees from Gallifrey?). And the cost of what Roman did for Julia puts an interesting twist on sharing technology. I’m also curious to see what effect the ending scuffle in the Sector will have on the rest of the series.

The CW announced series orders for four pilots today, for a total of five new shows (including The Vampire Diaries’ spinoff The Originals) to debut in the 2013-2014 season. The Carrie Diaries was renewed, as well as Nikita, for a shortened season.

Which of these shows will I watch next season? If I have time and the trailers look good, I’ll probably try to check out the pilots for all four new shows. I still need to catch up on The Vampire Diaries to watch the planted pilot for The Originals, but I’m leaning toward not watching the spinoff. Nikita I will watch till the end, and I probably would have at least given a shot to The Carrie Diaries (especially since it includes Doctor Who’s Freema Agyeman) if I had more time when it started airing.

Tomorrow People has an impressive line-up of executive producers (from Chuck, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, and Nikita) and features genre favorite Mark Pellegrino as well as Robbie Amell (Arrow’s Stephen Amell’s cousin – who will play a character named Stephen). People around the world gaining superpowers isn’t new (see Heroes, Alphas, and more), but can be excellent if done right.

Star-Crossed (formerly Oxygen) has a human girl falling in love with an alien boy after he and 8 other alien teens are integrated into a high school ten years after their people landed on Earth. I’m not familiar with many of the actors, so I’m counting on previews to tell me why this intriguing premise is must-see TV.

The 100 refers to a group of juvenile delinquents who are sent to a nuclear-war-ravaged Earth to see if it’s habitable again. The cast includes a few actors I know from their reoccurring guest spots on other shows. It’s based on an upcoming book series – which I think would be a dream come true: being able to write such a great novel that it’s made into a TV show before it even releases.

Reign focuses on 15-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, and her closest friends, three of her ladies-in-waiting, amid the secrets of the French court. I usually don’t watch historical shows, but I may give this one a try as it stars Megan Follows (aka Anne Shirley) and Anna Popplewell (aka Queen Susan of Narnia).

Gone are the days of the CW being the teen girl channel. Nearly all of their scripted programming now has a supernatural/sci-fi/action hero bent (4 out of 5 new programs, 5 out of 7 renewed programs), and the remaining ones have distinctive settings (deep South, 80s New York, 16th century France). And out of their 12 scripted shows for next year, I am currently watching four, want to catch up with Supernatural, would have given The Carrie Diaries a try, and will probably watch all five new pilots. That leaves the lone show I care nothing about, Hart of Dixie (ironic since my last name is also Hart), of which I watched the pilot. I didn’t expect to like it, though, since medical shows I like are few and Southern accents bug me.

So next fall, the CW may go from my least-watched channel (the first show I watched was Nikita when it premiered) to the channel with the highest concentration of shows I watch. And with so many genre shows, perhaps it’s more deserving of the Syfy name than the Syfy channel itself!

You may have noticed a horrendous lack of posts on this blog over the past weeks. The main reason is my new job. Since I’m now working fulltime, I have only about 4 hours every evening to do EVERYTHING. Probably a third or more of those evenings we have people here at my house, or we’re out visiting friends/family (and I’ve turned down a few of those get-togethers). You can see how many TV shows I watch by seeing which ones I’ve blogged about a lot in the past, and sadly, I’ve fallen behind on nearly every single one. The few spare bits of time left I fill with things like laundry, cooking, reading, checking out a few TV news sites (while dodging spoilers), pinning some Doctor Who stuff on Pinterest, and IMing/texting friends. Weekends rarely help, as those tend to be either filled to the brim with friends and activities, or spent in bed trying to get over a cold or catch up on sleep.

It’s not going to get any better, either, as I’ll be working overtime the next three weeks. So my four evening hours will become two. You can see why I need a TARDIS.

Speaking of Doctor Who, my love for the show only continues to grow. Series 7 resumes in just 10 days! My sister Abbi is trying to catch up before then, so I had her over this past weekend and we watched 21 episodes, finishing series 4 and the specials, and watching all of series 5. Unbeknownst to us, our sister Becky was using her time home alone to try out more of the show since she’d enjoyed “Rose,” and she’d started series 2 by the time we picked her up Sunday to see The Hobbit at the dollar theater.

I’ve been very bad about posting updates this month (still luxuriating in the aftermath of my Doctor Who marathon), but here’s some TV news from the month of January!

Doctor Who alum Alex Kingston (River Song) will appear on multiple episodes of Arrow as Laurel Lance’s mother, Dinah. Fans of the Green Arrow comic books know she’s the original Black Canary, so it’s possible she and Oliver Queen may come to blows. Might she also share a scene with fellow Who alum John Barrowman?

Series 7 of Doctor Who resumes March 30th on both BBC1 and BBC America. I’m so glad they’re not making us wait for the episodes after they air in Great Britain!

Bones secured an early renewal for another season, and showrunner Hart Hanson has a pilot order with CBS for an additional show. Unfortunately, the premise doesn’t interest me in the least, but he did amazing with The Finder, so who knows?

Speaking of The Finder, its lead actor Geoff Stults has been reoccurring on Ben and Kate, but FOX has pulled that from the schedule. At least he showed up in the last-episode-before-likely-cancellation-burnoff, though it was in a manner that indicated he won’t return. I really hope Stults finds an awesome pilot this season, though I’m thinking he might want to avoid FOX. I know I’ve become a bit wary of any shows airing on that network. If bubble show The Mindy Project doesn’t make it, I’ll only have two returning shows to watch on FOX this fall: Bones and New Girl.

Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 has also been pulled from the schedule, effectively canceling the show, and instead viewers will get a double dose of bubble show Happy Endings. I still don’t know why ABC, FOX, and NBC all scheduled a comedy block for Tuesdays at 9, but clearly, ABC lost that battle. A pity, since I enjoy both shows, but the writing’s been on the wall for a while.

Another blow was the cancellation of Syfy’s Alphas, particularly galling since season two ended with a cliffhanger. One of the best-acted shows around, its powers-with-limitations approach worked very well. I’ll be keeping an eye out for these actors in the future (especially Ryan Cartwright, who led me to the show from Bones). Poor Summer Glau, even reoccurring on a show still brings the curse.

Broadcast networks have ordered a flurry of pilots, but since most of what we know about them is a paragraph description, it’s hard to tell which ones I’ll be checking out if they make it to series. The CW is giving The Selection another go after sending the first pilot back for retooling, and The Vampire Diaries may be getting a spinoff – The Originals (featuring Klaus, Elijah, and Haley from TVD). FOX is looking at Delirium, based on a YA trilogy about a world where love has been eradicated by a special procedure people get at age 18.

Doctor Who stars David Tennant (the Doctor in series 2-4) and Arthur Darvill (who appeared in series 5-7) will both appear in the eight-part British drama Broadchurch. Deadline shares: “Broadchurch explores what happens to a small community when it suddenly becomes the focus of a major murder investigation and is subjected to the full glare of the media spotlight.”

ITV will air the show this spring, and BBC America will broadcast it later this year.

Since I just caught up on Doctor Who, it’s awesome that two of my favorite actors from the show, who never appeared in an episode together, will both star in this drama!

2012 was a great year for me in regard to uncovering awesome TV shows. It may even top 2011, when I got pulled into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Bones, Warehouse 13, Eureka, and Veronica Mars, not to mention enjoyed great new fall shows like Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Suburgatory, and Person of Interest.

My top eight new shows for 2012 are also a mix of brand new and new-to-me shows. Like with the list above, this year wasn’t always my first exposure to the shows in question, but 2012 was the year they hooked me. I’m listing the shows in roughly chronological order of getting sucked in.

The Finder

This short-lived Fox drama (so many awesome shows can say the same thing) caught my attention as a companion show to Bones – not quite a proper spinoff as none of the main characters from Bones joined the new show. But with a planted pilot, same showrunner, and guest appearances by Bones cast, the tie was definitely there. Geoff Stults (as Walter) and Michael Clarke Duncan (as Leo) hit it out of the park on day one, but the ratings didn’t match the show’s awesomeness. Fox also aired the episodes out of order, threw in a month-long hiatus in March, and moved the show to the Friday death slot – starting Easter weekend!

From the beginning, the show felt like it should have been airing on USA Network – it had the same breezy, pop-culture-riddled sensibilities as Psych, and would have been a perfect fit for their “Characters Welcome” brand. But in the end, the cancellation of the show was moot, as Michael Clarke Duncan, who as Leo was the heart of the show, passed away over the summer.

I’m still waiting for the DVD set to become available, but at least The Finder introduced me to the amazingness of actor Geoff Stults, who I’m currently enjoying as a reoccurring cast member on Ben and Kate. Sadly, that show also airs on Fox, and I’ve learned not to get attached to anything airing on that network now.

True Blood

Buffy and Being Human showed me that shows about vampires are cool. So to feed my bloodlust, I decided to try out this buzzy HBO show, not really expecting to like it – keeping things PG-13 is more my style, and I’m not a fan of the deep south. But checking out episode one led swiftly to two, and three, as each twisty cliffhanger glamoured me into watching more. Short season meant catching up in time for season 5, and while this show is fairly low on my list of vampire TV shows, it’s addicting enough that I’ll keep coming back.

Happy Endings

There’s a dearth of good comedy over summers, so I decided to give this recommended show a try in late August, and quickly grew to love the quirky group.

The Vampire Diaries

After catching up on True Blood, I decided to try out the last major vampire show currently airing that I hadn’t seen. Plus, I was looking at writing a book with a high school setting and vampires trying to control their urges, and I wanted to make sure it was different enough from this show. The pilot bored me, but I heard later that the rest of the show was a vast improvement, so I dove in during September, and caught up on all three seasons within 3 weeks, just in time for the season 4 premiere.

Like True Blood, the fast-paced storylines made the show insanely addictive, but in this case, the characters and relationships became an even bigger draw. Damon’s struggle with what sort of person to become, Elena’s compassion without weakness, Stefan’s dual nature, Caroline’s ditziness turned to strength, Alaric’s unlikely allies becoming the family he always wanted, and more.

Elementary

No, it’s not Sherlock, but it doesn’t have to be – I love both shows, and Jonny Lee Miller makes an amazing Holmes. Making Watson female, setting the show in NYC, and coming up with new stories instead of revamping the classics all help differentiate this show. And with us getting only 4 1/2 hours of Sherlock every 18 months or so, there’s plenty of room for a fun, quirky drama like this. I enjoy the recovering addict twist, and Joan Watson’s slower progression to teaming up with her client.

Arrow

Aside from Alphas, TV has been sorely missing a good superhero show, and in the wake of The Avengers’ popularity, the Batman trilogy’s gritty conclusion, and America’s obsession with bow-toting heroes, Arrow is exactly what was wanted. While there are still a few rough edges on this new drama (dialogue could use some help), great ratings will give it time to truly soar.

Doctor Who

I always knew I would eventually watch this show. I purchased digital editions of series 1 and 3 back in 2010, and watched a few episodes here and there, but didn’t get hooked. I watched a couple more earlier this year, and in November started liking the show more and more. In December, I started marathoning through Doctor Who in earnest, as most shows were going on hiatus and I had more time. I rewatched season 1 with my sister (and liked it a whole lot more the second time) around Christmas, and caught up with the whole show (excluding classic Who) a few days after the New Year.

Torchwood

I bought the first two series of Torchwood in 2010 also, and despite some misgivings about the show’s adult content, I liked the character of Jack Harkness from Doctor Who enough to give the show a try (and keep all the crossovers in their proper places). As a result of watching the two together, it’s hard to separate Torchwood as a distinct show in my mind. It’s the only show on this list I’m not current with, as I still have 6 episodes left of the Miracle Day mini-series. It’s definitely a more serious show (during various episodes I found myself longing for the more lighthearted Who), morality is a bit grayer, and quite often there isn’t a happy ending. But it definitely grows on you, and there are quite a few exceptional episodes.